Router (Photo : Reuters )
The first batch of the AnonaBox has serious security flaws and consumers who purchased were promised with a replacement.
The AnonaBox project was initiated in Kickstarter to create a router that uses Tor to provide anonymity to users and to increase the security. When the project originally began, there were many critics who had a negative opinion about the anonymous box. They claimed that it does not provide security as promoted because the product is a cheap Chinese hardware being marketed with a clever gimmick.
Due to controversies, Kickstarter website decided to stall the $600,000 earned by the group, but AnonaBox started another campaign and successfully started shipping the product to its customers. It is a $100 box that was shipped to at least 350 customers. However, these devices are being recalled at the moment.
The company started informing their customers to return their boxes and wait for a free replacement. The recall has commenced because the team which gave so much importance to privacy forgot to work on the basic security settings. The router has no option to set a password, which is mandatory to stop other people in the surrounding region from gaining access to the internet connection.
Wired reported that a lack of password in a router would not only allow users to access the internet for free but can also snoop into traffic on a daily basis. They can gather usage statistics, monitor passwords and other activities which poses a serious security threat.
AnonaBox has shipped over 1500 devices to their customers but only 350 of them had this security issues, Geeky Gadgets reported. The company has promised that they will replace it for free so that users can start browsing the web with the privacy offered by Tor.
